If you have been diligently reading my blog (you better be) you would know that I just love to piss off my neighbors. I know, not very neighborly, but oh so much fun. Besides, it seems like it has become sort of a running joke in the neighborhood. What will Jane do next? Most of them get a good laugh out of it since we do take good care of our yard, but there are a few that are not so thrilled. That’s mainly why I do it. If they laughed and enjoyed it I’d get bored.
Everyone has seen the pink yard flamingos and a few have even seen the skeleton flamingos, but now a couple of artists selling under the name Chris and Janes Place on Etsy have come up with their own twist. Zombie Gnomes feeding on one of those oh so tacky pink flamingos. They are hand casted, hand painted and sell for $55. They have been getting so many orders for these that they are a little behind in production, but so worth the wait. I am so excited to get mine. Now I just need to think of a great way to reveal it to the neighbors

Happy 2012 people! Let’s make it a happy and healthy year!
So, I thought it was appropriate to post a baby related item since babies are a symbol of the New Year. I ended up coming across this creepy sculpture called Big Baby. Brooklyn, NY artist Nina Levy was originally commissioned to create Big Baby for the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, CT in 2003. The museum was doing renovations and thought the baby would symbolize the museum’s “rebirth”. It ended up causing quite a bit of controversy and was vandalized. Now it sits in the de Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA. The baby is 7′ tall and I find it to be more than just a little creepy. Could you imagine driving down the street and seeing that baby just sitting there on a bench? I would think the thing might have caused a few accidents while it sat in front of the museum. For some reason it made me think of that movie Trainspotting. Maybe just because that gravity defying baby creeped me out too.

Found another great Do-It-Yourself Halloween project today called Climbing Skeletons. I’m finding so many cool ideas! I wish I had thought of this before. Maybe next year I’ll plan the whole month to be Do-It-Yourself projects. Especially if new and different decorations are hard to come by again. I wish there was a way for me to do all of the ideas I’ve found, but our yard is only so big. Also, I like to keep things in a general theme which this would not fit into. Anyway, this seems pretty straight forward to make. All you need is 2 or more cheap 5′ plastic skeletons that you can find almost anywhere this time of year. You’ll also need some picture hanging wire which you can find in any hardware store and a ladder. I think this looks pretty simple and could easily be done in one day as long as you already have your supplies. For the directions please click HERE. I know this may seem confusing to some of you simpletons, but those of you who have eaten enough brains will understand. I actually found two different sets of directions for making this, but this one seemed more logical than the one I found on Halloween Prop Master. That’s the one this one was modeled after. Plus I just love the creepy way they are climbing up the front of the house. You could even go more crazy with this and dress them up like zombies or monsters. Can you imagine Zombies crawling up your house to get in the windows? Yikes!

Today I found an awesome new decoration for your front yard. They are Circling Ghosts that hang from a tree attached to a fan. I really want to do this one, but the trees in our front yard are not even close to big enough. I’m going to have to put Scary Hubby on it. He’s a technical genius. I know he’ll find a way to make it happen. I can just imagine how great they would be floating around our tombstones. If you want to make it just click HERE. It sounds pretty easy if you already have a big tree in your yard. The only thing would be if you don’t have an old ceiling fan lying around. I did see some really cheap ones (around $20) at Home Depot a while back. I bet if you look around or ask your friends you can probably find one. This guy bought the ghosts at KMart, but I would probably make these myself. I’ve made many ghosts over the years, so I think I can handle these. Do me a favor? If you are going to make this, make sure the ghosts are a realistic size. I hate mini ghosts and other crappy props like that. There is nothing scary about a teeny tiny 12″ ghost. Anyway, I’m so excited to do this one! I just hope we can figure it out in time for this year. Always looking for new ways to freak out the neighbors. Do you think they’d mind if I left them up all year?

I so love this time of year and sometimes I feel like I’ve seen it all. I think all of the Halloween manufacturers are scared this year (pun intended). A few years ago it was so fun to go shopping for Halloween. Every year they seemed to come out with the coolest new props. I’m so glad I spent the money then because there is nothing but the same old crap out there this year. Seriously?!? Did they run out of ideas? Are they not producing as much because of the state of the economy? I was in Party City, Halloween City and Spirit Halloween yesterday and let me tell you, they are pretty much cleaned out. I was looking for something specific I had seen online but with no luck. I think this is the first time I have ever walked out of those stores with nothing in my hand. It got me to thinking about going more old school. You know, making all of the decorations yourself. Maybe in a year like this when there isn’t much to write about I can get inspiration from other people. I decided to go online and see what other people have created from basic stuff. I found this Grounded the Kids decor that is absolutely hilarious and a little creepy too. I just love the idea and what makes it a really great idea is that you can go simple like this or make them really scary. I found this on The Fun Times Guide. If you want to do it yourself click HERE for the directions.